Monthly Archives: August 2009

It is not uncommon for anyone to omit something from his tax return or financial disclosures and find the need to file an amended return or statement. It is another thing to omit numerous significant entities that could affect your…

One of the most valid criticisms of this blog is that I am only preaching to the choir. I may be voicing legitimate points, but it is not accomplishing much since few opposing my viewpoints will read it.. When I…

Obama’s claim that a government option will somehow keep the private health insurance carriers honest is either disingenuous or incredibly ignorant of basic economics. Can the government honestly be expected to both regulate and compete with private insurance carriers? When…

The editors of National Review note the destructive aspects of the cash-for-clunkers program in “Uncreative Destruction”. read it here. If there is one absolute rule in economics it is that everything has a cost. What were ‘clunkers’ to the program…

In 1991 our company received a letter from the EPA that we were a ‘PRP’ which stands for a ‘Potentially Responsible Party’ for an environmental cleanup near Tampa, Florida. In 1980 Congress passed the act which created the Superfund, which…

Obama has posed this question and seems to think we can. William Dudley the new president of the New York Federal Reserve thinks they can and should act to identify and prevent asset- price bubbles. I remain very skeptical. The…

The government decided we needed better health care coverage for our senior citizens and created Medicare. We needed better healthcare for the poor and created Medicaid. We have a separate health care system for the military and we have the…

During the last term of George Bush we referred to those who made outlandish accusations against the President as being infected with the “Bush Derangement Syndrome”. Their hatred seemed so venomous that it was impossible to have any sort of…

Obama’s campaign was blessed by the financial collapse only a few months before the election. When it struck, few of the voters could absorb or analyze the cause, and with a compliant press it was natural to blame the party…

The health care bill is getting bogged down because of its complexity. When people do not understand something they tend to be guided more by their fears than by optimistic expectations. It would seem that it would be wiser to…

Camille Paglia steps aside from the sycophants and holds her own party accountable for its elitist attitudes. Read her whole article in Salon here. Excerpts: I just don’t get it. Why the insane rush to pass a bill, any bill,…

The stock market has risen over 40% from the March lows. While the administration is sure to take credit for the market, they should do so cautiously. Since only a very small part of the stimulus package has been spent,…

One of the commonly acknowledged grave mistakes of the response to the Depression of 1929 was the Smoot Hawley Tarriff, which largely killed foreign trade in an effort to save domestic jobs. Not only did it make the depression worse…

The cash for clunkers is a clear example of the economic fallacy known as Bastiat’s fallacy. We see the results of the expenditure- a sharply increase in auto sales- but we ignore the real cost of the program because we…

Retail sales are down sharply. Steel mills are running under 50% capacity. Auto sales have skidded to a stop. Several restaurant chains have shut down. Circuit City has closed, abandoning its newest local location without ever turning on the lights.…

The episode of Joe McCarthy’s communist witch hunt including the blacklisting of Hollywood writers with suspected, rarely proven (as if that should even matter), communist ties was one of our most embarrassing episodes in our recent history. McCarthy was able…

The ‘birthers’ have been derided as a part of the lunatic fringe of the right and appropriately so. Like others who take fanatical positions, no amount of proof seem adequate. Yet as Jeff Jacoby reminds us in his column such…